Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) said yesterday that should Taiwan apply to join the Beijing-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in the future, it should be striving to receive equal treatment and to be respected as a country.

Legislators agreed Tuesday that the Executive Yuan should submit a letter of intent to join the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (亞洲投資銀行) on condition that the country's dignity is not compromised and its interests are upheld.

Environmental activist and lawyer Robin Winkler, who gave up his U.S. citizenship to become a naturalized Republic of China citizen in 2003, became the first-ever foreign-born individual in Taiwan Tuesday to throw his hat into the legislative election of 2016.

Food companies and pharmaceutical factories in Central Taiwan were raided and discovered possessing products made with magnesium carbonate for industrial use (工業碳酸鎂), reported the Food and Drug Administration (FDA, 食藥署) yesterday.

The first stage of the implementation of the Water Pollution Control Fee Collection Regulation (水汙染防治收費辦法) will begin on May 1 by focusing on collecting fees for industrial effluent and industrial park sewage systems, according to the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA, 環保署) yesterday.

Kuomintang (KMT) chairman and New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) reiterated that he would serve out the remainder of his mayoral term yesterday, implying that he would not run in the 2016 presidential election. Chu was responding to questions from New Taipei City councilors representing the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Kuomintang (KMT) politicians fired back at the opposition Democratic Progressive Party on the issue of reforming the nation's semi-presidential system and introducing a parliamentary system, yesterday. Responding to Democratic Progressive Party Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen's (蔡英文) remarks Monday that “a parliamentary system has no space to exist,” KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said that constitutional reform should not be held ransom to the interests of one individual or political party.